Blackboard recently announced integration for Blackboard Learn and Blackboard Connect to extend its capabilities in mass notification and alerts for colleges and universities, and deliver communications in modes that students and faculty prefer.

New features include rich-text HTML e-mail support that allows clients to create and send messages with formatted text, embedded images and hyperlinks to make notifications more effective.

Automated weather alerts during severe weather events, based on data from the National Weather Service/National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

This integration is accomplished with the Connect Integration Toolkit for Learn, a feature that helps facilitate communication and collaboration between instructors and students. With it, faculty members can easily inform students of assignments and deadlines, schedule changes and grade announcements, all delivered to mobile devices in voice, text or email messages directly from Blackboard Learn.

Blackboard Connect is now also offering a no charge knowledge base for all of its current clients, which offers on demand help information, campus communication best practices, community discussion boards and other benefits.